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www.procurement.ie eTenders Tutorial Questions and Answers (Q&A) Service Buyer Guide
www.procurement.ie
eTenders TutorialQuestions and Answers (Q&A) Service Buyer Guide
www.procurement.ie
Q&A User Guide - BuyerIntroduction to Q&A Service
Benefits of Q&A Service
Section 1 – Reviewing Suppliers’ questions
Section 2 – Copying an email to Q&A Service
Section 3 – Publishing answers
Section 4 – Dealing with Attachments
Section 5 – Checking Audit trail
Section 7 – Generating a report of Questions and Answers
Click HERE for the supplier Q&A user guide
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Introduction to Q&A Service
• The Q&A service is designed to manage the pre-closing clarification process as an
alternative to the current messaging facility
• Before a CA requests the Q&A to be switched-on in their eTenders profile, they should
first examine their current business processes so that they are correctly aligned to the
new way pre-closing clarification questions as submitted via the Q&A
• Once the Q&A is switched-on in the CA profile, it will be available to suppliers for all
tender competitions including direct invites
• The Q&A will be only available to suppliers to submit a question prior to the tender
closing deadline or until the clarification deadline expires where this has been indicated
by the CA. Read only access will be available to suppliers after the closing deadline
• The messaging facility will continue to be available to suppliers and CAs for one-to-one
exchange of information throughout the procurement process including post tender
closing
Office of Government Procurement
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Benefits of Q&A Service
• Q&A locks out for suppliers at the clarification deadline. Where the CA extends
the closing deadline, the Q&A will continue to be available for suppliers
• Better tracking of questions and answers – the question asked by the supplier
displays alongside the answer provided by the CA
• Likely to reduce duplication of questions from suppliers as all clarifications are in
a list format when answered by the CA
• Allows the CA to anonymise or edit a published question/ answer
• CA can extract clarifications to an excel report
• CA can add a question and answer received by alternative means i.e. supplier
briefing sessions
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Section 1: Reviewing Supplier’s questions
• CA can see when the question was received in a list format and which supplier asked the question. CA can access and answer the question by clicking on the subject of the question
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Section 1: Reviewing Supplier’s questions
• Within the main subject of the question, the CA can edit the question where required and provide an answer
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Section 1: Reviewing Supplier’s questions
• CAs can now broadcast the clarification, using the publish button and ticking the box for the relevant question
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Section 1: Reviewing Supplier’s questions
• The supplier can choose to tick the ‘Commercially Protected’ box if they consider it a sensitive question
• If the CA chooses to answer it as such, the answer will be visible only to the supplier who asked
• The CA can choose to untick the box and this would then mean the reply will broadcast to all suppliers
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Section 2: Copying an email to Q&A Service
• If the CA receives a question from a supplier via messaging, it can be copied into the Q&A service by using the ‘Copy to Q&A’ button
• This stores it as another entry in the Q&A, with all the functionality including the unique ID
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Section 2: Copying an email to Q&A service
• A warning message will be shown, at which point the CA will be informed that any attached documents will not be copied to the Q&A service
• The Q&A service does not store documents, please refer to section 4 for dealing with attachments
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Section 2: Copying an email to Q&A Service
• The Q&A list will show if the question was originally received by email with a small envelope icon
• This will have the same functionality and details as all other questions on the Q&A list
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Section 3: Publishing Answers
• Once the answer is published, it will move back into the “Questions and Answers” section and the published date will appear in the column
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Section 3: Publishing Answers
• Once a clarification has been published, the CA can access it and see which suppliers have read the answer with a date and time stamp
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Section 3: Publishing Answers
• The CA can return to a previously answered question at any time and add more content
• The updated answer is broadcast and alerts are sent to Suppliers who expressed an interest in the tender
• The section of the Q&A service which shows suppliers who have seen the original broadcast is blanked out and it is treated as if it was a new clarification
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Section 3: Publishing Answers
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• Q&A showing an updated answer and lists suppliers who have seen the updated answer
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Section 4: Dealing with Attachments
• If the CA needs to attach a document which has been requested by a supplier, it can be sent by means of the Attach External Documents feature (as shown below in the checklist)
• The request can be answered within the Q&A service, informing the supplier the requested document has been sent and where it can be found
• This same information can be broadcast to all suppliers
• All suppliers who expressed an interest in the Tender will all see exactly the same document and same information
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Section 4: Dealing with Attachments
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Section 5: Checking Audit Trail
• The CA can examine the sequence of questions and answers relating to their tender since it was started by clicking on the Audit trail option in the main navigation panel
• This panel also contains information of other significant events relating to the tender such as when and where a tender was accepted
• When the CA updates and broadcasts an answer, this action can be seen in the Audit trail along with a time and date stamp
• It is also recorded when the question is initially asked, it records the person who asked the question and gives time and date, along with it’s question ID
Office of Government Procurement
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Section 7: Generating a report of Q&A
Office of Government Procurement
• The CA can print and also export to excel the Questions and Answers by simply click on [Print] or [Export to Excel] buttons as highlighted below:
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Section 7: Generating a report of Q&A
• The CA can generate a report displaying key information of all questions and answers relating to their tender
• If the CA chooses ‘Print’, a window will open with a list of the questions, answers
• If the CA chooses ‘Export to Excel’, it can generate a report displaying key information of all questions and answers relating to their tender
• The CA has the option to save this report in several formats – XML, CSV, PDF, MHTML, Excel, TIFF, and Word
Office of Government Procurement
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Section 7: Generating a report of Q&A
• The CA can hide the name of the suppliers from the report before printing or exporting the report. The CA must first select Hide from the Supplier Name select list on the top left and then click View Report on the top right in order for the change to take effect
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